Sunday, December 1, 2013

Lamingtons (Chocolate Coconut-Covered Cakes)

Have you ever made Lamingtons before?

Have you ever even heard of Lamingtons before?

Me either. But over the summer, my dad saw some show on television about a bakery in NYC that makes these. He was going on and on about how amazing they looked, except he couldn't remember what they were called.

After some digging online, I discovered these magical chocolate & coconut-covered square cakes were called Lamingtons and originated in Australia.

Well, my dad was supposed to come over last weekend to celebrate his birthday, so I decided I would surprise him and make these for dessert. I found what looked like an easy recipe on one of my go-to sites, Joyofbaking.com, so I figured I'd be on my way to deliciousness in no time.

Or... not.

The cake part came out fine, but when it came to coating them in chocolate icing and rolling them in coconut, I was a complete disaster. It took me way longer than it probably should have, and I made an absolute mess. All the while, the blog's photo of Stephanie Jaworksi's beautifully covered cakes were taunting me, saying "This is totally possible - you just SUCK."

Well I think I managed to get about 6 of the 16 squares thoroughly covered (in addition to my dining room table and floor) before I threw in the towel. For the remaining squares, I just ladled some chocolate icing over the tops, sprinkled them with coconut, and called it a day.

Our scheduled dinner ended up being cancelled anyway, because my dad got super sick (no, it was not the Sickness of Death from my last post, but it did leave him bed-ridden for 2 days!) I still gave the Lamingtons to him, because I am never. making. these. again.

Not that it should stop YOU from trying, however - you can get the recipe here. (Apologies, normally I would not do that to you, but for once I followed the recipe to the letter. So per the rules of blogging etiquette, I cannot re-post it here on V&B!)

I will tell you that I had a bite of one, and saved a couple squares for Mr. Vittles, and we both agreed they tasted pretty amazing.

1 comment:

We love love love lamingtons! In South Africa it's called "ystervarkies" (porcupines) and we claim it to be traditional, most people no knowing about the Aus origin. It was apparently a favourite of one Genl Lamington.I once found a recipe for a lamington roll (like a swiss roll!) and that is as nice a version to make.